Bedard deal a done deal at long last

The Seattle Mariners (finally) will announce their acquisition of left-handed starting pitcher Erik Bedard from the Baltimore Orioles Friday.

The deal, which is expected to cost the Mariners right fielder Adam Jones, left-handed reliever George Sherrill and minor league pitchers Chris Tillman, Tony Butler and Kam Mickolio, sees Seattle general manager Bill Bavasi reach his goal of adding a top-end starting pitcher for the Mariner rotation.

Bedard, who was 13-5 with a 3.16 ERA last season despite missing more than a month with a strained right oblique, will be introduced to the Seattle media today at 2 p.m. at Safeco Field.

The deal has been talked about in various stages since December, and the two sides thought a deal had been struck two weeks ago. But word of the deal leaked out, and that apparently led Baltimore owner Peter Angelos to throttle back and take a second look.

Jones and Sherrill passed physical exams on Monday and Bedard, who started his physical on Thursday, got clearance from the Seattle medical crew on Friday morning, erasing the last hurdle to the deal.